They Recruit all Kinds
by Ikaru Sentinal
Summary: Siren is a mutant child of two of Nick Fury's best scientists, unfortunately raised in a HYDRA laboratory. Years later after her escape and reluctant recruitment into SHIELD she is caught up in the Avengers project. And maybe they can help her find peace.
1. Sleepless in Seattle

Disclaimer: I do not own Avengers, or any of the characters except for my OC, Serena Raven Sato. I am not making money off of this endevor. It is purely for my own amusment and that of anyone who cares to read it.

AN/ I know I should be working on my FMA fic, and my others, but this got lodged in my brain and would not leave. So bear with me a little, I hope you all enjoy!

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Seattle was a large city. Large, busy, and overpopulated. So large that the buildings towered over the streets below, creating dark foreboding shadows. So busy and hurried that no one had time for anything but themselves. So overpopulated that two people who have lived near each other for years would not recognize each other on the street. The perfect city for a girl to get lost in.

The Sun was beginning to turn orange in the atmosphere and she sat on a bench in a park, her Darker than Black messenger bag at her feet, which were swinging back and forth lazily as she flipped idly through her magazine. Well, it wasn't really _her_ magazine, and it wasn't really anything that interested her at all-'Horse', oh joy- but it was a good cover.

People see a girl who looked as young as she did, dressed as she was, who looked like she did, and ignored her. She looked 13, two years younger than she really was, was wearing a long sleeved black t-shirt, dark purple ankle-length ruffled skirt, lighter purple sleeveless mock turtle-neck vest, gray leather ankle boots with clunky zippers on the outside.

Her ink-black hair was cropped chin length and tucked up under a knit cap which matched her vest. She had some small silver hoops in her ears; those were her only pieces of jewelry. She was of obviously very mixed heritage; although even she was not sure as to what she was. Nor did she care.

If people were able to see her face she might get a double-take or two for her exotic skin tone, and for her odd violet colored eyes, but that was what her sunglasses and the magazine were for. She appeared as neither someone who had a promiscuous or scandalous way of dressing, or someone who was too conservative in dress. She was neither too loud in her dress, or too Goth, or punk, or hippie. She was not being loud, not drawing attention in any way. So eyes slide right over her.

And that was just how she liked it. She had been living here for over 3 months now, with no stirrings in the waters. A record. She had come north from California (recently she had lost herself in LA, but she got antsy and left as quickly as she could) and had settled in Seattle, she had a small apartment south-side. She was starting to even feel safe enough to try and make some friends, let her barriers down a little. Enjoy herself.

It had been a very long time since she had felt safe enough to enjoy herself, to not always feel breath on the back of her neck, the collar around her throat, manacles around her wrists, muzzle locked around her mouth and jaw. The drugs in her system clouding her thoughts. Forcing her to sing.

She shook the thoughts away before she had another panic attack and glanced over the top of the magazine at the other people near her in the park. No one was paying her any attention. She had thought she was being followed, but it would seem that she had lost them. She breathed a sigh of relief, tucked the magazine back into her bag (next to Bad, her wolf plushy she took with her everywhere) and stood to her feet, slinging the strap of the bag over her left shoulder. Aside from the magazine and Bad she also had a pair of brass knuckles, a can of mace, a Taser, a couple bottles of water and her anti-anxiety meds as well as some low-grade tranquilizers in case she started to have a panic attack. She liked to be prepared.

The problem with being prepared is getting the items that made her feel safe. She tried not to think about how she obtained her equipment. She did not find thieving an acceptable way to live. It piqued her pride. But of course it was difficult for a child to get a hold of such weapons like a Taser or brass knuckles, or especially chemicals such as anti-anxiety meds or things like Valium or Rivotril , and even harder to hold a job when she moved so often. But thankfully odd jobs were always available, and if you knew where to look and who to ask, you could get ones that paid well. She had stolen the Taser a year ago, the brass knuckles earlier than that. The anti-anxiety meds she could buy herself, as long as she did not draw to much attention to herself or buy too many at a time. The tranqs she had to steal, but thankfully did not need too big a supply.

She'd been on the run for 5 years now. Firstly from the laboratory responsible for her…._condition_, and secondly from those people called 'Shield' who kept chasing her, who she did not trust not to do the same, no matter _what_ stories they told her. She would _never_ trust such as them. She knew vaguely that they were tracking her, but it never was a conscious thought. If it had, maybe she would not have been so surprised. As it was, the alarms had chimed in the back of her mind, but then quieted, she had been left alone so long, that even though she was often sick with stress and anxiety of being recaptured, she had not really, truly, thought they would find her.

But as she was walking through the park on her way back home the small hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and she felt her muscles tighten in anticipation. Flight or Fight instincts revved and she began to walk faster, fighting the urge run or look around like a spooked deer. She could not hear anyone pacing her, could not hear the crackle of radio, the sounds of guns being leveled at her. But that meant nothing. It could be all in her mind, paranoia borne of reality, there had been so many false starts in the last year. But she could not bring herself to ever doubt her senses, not when _this_ time could be real. _Them_ again.

She came to the end of the park and immediately picked up the pace to a trot, turning the corner, and then loosing herself in the crowd of civilians going about their way. She slowed down to match their pace (and not draw attention) and weaved her way deftly through the throng. She was a short and petite girl (only 5'0" flat) and so she was confident that she was hidden as long as she did not draw any attention. She followed the street for a good ways, and then cut into a dark and narrow alley. She knew these alleys very well indeed, she had taken a week to memorize them thoroughly as soon as she had moved here. She was not afraid of running afoul of any street tough or gang, she could handle them just fine.

It wasn't until she had gone several street lengths worth of alleys that she realized that she was being herded down towards the docks. It was little things really. A sound off to the left caused her to automatically go right when she could, shadows on the wall in her peripherals, the echoing sound of hard soled shoes. Her realization came as an epiphany, her respiration and heart rate spiked and she felt the start of a panic attack in the back of her mind. She gasped, hyper ventilated, expanded her lungs. She would need to scream.

She left the alleys and moved back to the open streets and then stopped and pivoted to face her pursuers. At first she did not see anyone, and the cold sweat that had formed on her back trickled down her spine. She had a moment of panic where she had thought she might well have imagined the whole thing, AKA totally lost her mind.

But then she saw them. Several men in natty black suits wearing sunglasses with earpieces came out of the alley she had just left, more down the street towards her. She whirled around on her heel and fled headlong down the street, which she suddenly realized was empty of all but the suits. Well… that just meant no innocents would be hurt. A salve on her conscience there. Oh, why couldn't they just leave her _alone_?

"Miss Sato!" One of the men called out, and she was so shocked she skidded to a halt and turned to gaze at the man in astonishment. What had he called her? Was that supposed to be her name? She gave the man a quick once over, and then turned to continue running. He was probably late-20s, mid-30s. Balding. Looked nice. He was the dangerous one, the nice looking ones always were.

"Miss Sato, we are with S.H.I.E.L.D, we request that you comply and come quietly!" A different man called out after her, authority ringing in his voice. She ignored him, her eyes skipping left and right, looking for a defendable position to put against her back.

"We don't want to hurt you Miss Sato!" the first one called out again, and she almost doubled up with hysterically laughter before swallowing the sound down. She did stumble to the side with some bitter chuckles escaping before regaining her balance and her stride. They must think her a moron. Like she hadn't heard that ploy before. She wasn't that innocent or naïve.

Once she found a nice place she would start screaming. These men would never take her alive. As far as she was concerned, S.H.I.E.L.D. was no better than Hydra, and they were as pure evil as you could get and still be human, not that she thought many of them were human. Not anymore. And neither was she. That was what they had told her. She wasn't human, so was not subject to the basic human rights most people had. She didn't even have a name.

She skidded to a halt when she realized she had come to a dead end while her thoughts had been sputtering all over themselves. She took a deep breath and calmly turned to face the S.H.I.E.L.D agents sent to capture her.

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Director Nicholas Fury stood with his arms akimbo, watching the computer screens display the data his people were compiling. He was dressed neatly in black, including his eye patch, his eye lost during World War II. S.H.I.E.L.D. was an up and coming world organization, and he was trying to recruit strong 'hero's to his cause. His cause being the total destruction of HYDRA, and everything they stood for. They had survived for far too long. Far too long with the freedom to unleash their atrocities. But no longer.

He would build S.H.I.E.L.D. strong, and powerful. Dig out the HYDRA facilities wherever they were.

His best agents were out there right now, recruiting his first 'hero'. Someone who hated HYDRA as much as he did. But he had a feeling she'd not be easily won. He had found out about the girl five years ago, when she escaped from a HYDRA facility in the south. He had been surprised, he had not thought that Wichapi Win Sato had even had a daughter, much less that that daughter had survived the destruction of the laboratory that she had worked in. It had been blown up from within, apparently by a HYDRA sleeper agent. Wichapi Win had been one of his best scientists, married to a chemical analyst by the name of Akil Sato. He had been fond of them, they were hard workers, geniuses in their fields, and also good people. And to lose not just them, but the entire lab where they had been working was a hard hit.

But then he had found out about Serena. She was every bit her mother's daughter, intelligent, canny and very adaptable if her escape was any evidence. But Serena was also suspicious and very slippery, they lost track of her many times over the years, and every time they got close she always managed to get away. He was determined that this time she would be brought in. Not only for her powers, but in remembrance of her parents.

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AN/ This is just the beggining, I hope you all R&R! And just a small note, this takes place about 4 years before the movie, so the Tesseract has not been found yet, and none of the nominal Avengers have been recruited yet.


	2. Director Nick Fury

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, or any of the characters except for my Siren and her past.

AN/ Here is chapter 2, already working on chapter 3, hoping for some reviews before I post that though, I want to know what you guys think. Anyways, here we go, a little to go before the movie time-line starts.

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They brought her into a big room that was dark and filled with computer monitors. She was still groggy from whatever they'd used to knock her out (it had taken at least 4 darts of it to stop her too) and her head hurt. They had something around her jaw and head so she couldn't scream -she could still hum, but they didn't know about what she could do with that. Yet- and her arms were bound behind her back. Luckily they were not touching her; otherwise she'd be in full panic-mode. As it was, they were herding her, 6 men in suits surrounding her. Big men too. She wasn't intimidated, but she was somewhat amused. But mostly annoyed.

She couldn't really see where they were taking her, but the moment she had a chance she'd hum to concentrate her energy and then break her bonds. They'd only used steel, no special composite or anything. She wasn't _super_ strong or anything, but she could break these bonds easy. But she had no idea where she was, so escape was not an option yet. So she would bide her time. Of course if it turned out she was to be strapped to a table like she suspected….she'd be off before they could sneeze.

But she was distracted by her revelry when a somewhat deep, very masculine, commanding voice asked why she was bound, and why her head was bleeding. She hadn't noticed. And why in the hell was she muzzled? Couldn't they handle one little girl without such drastic measures? He sounded annoyed. She leaned around the man in front of her; saw a biggish black man in all black with an eye-patch. He saw he and gestured at her (she thought) She looked up at the men surrounding her, the leader was explaining to his boss(?) that they had to knock her out, she'd taken out five of them when she started screaming. No, she hadn't killed anyone but…he was cut off and the boss gestured for her again.

He looked down at her for a moment before speaking.

"Miss Sato. I asked for my men to bring you in, I am Director Nicholas Fury. I did not give them orders to harm you, for that I apologize." She stared at him in disbelief and shock, but he did sound sincere. She may have twitched but she didn't really notice, she was staring at him very hard. He continued, his arms never leaving their militant position behind his back, his voice staying calm and even. Why had he called her Serena?

"If I take that muzzle off are you going to scream?" He asked. She nodded without even thinking about lying. He looked amused and turned from her to look at one of the screens. He seemed to forget she was there for several minutes and she fidgeted slightly, her arms tugging at the cuffs slightly. She really hated being bound.

He turned back to her and seemed to be appraising her. She narrowed her eyes, scowling. He was judging her? On what basis? She really wanted to kick his ass. He held out a hand to her and gestured at the screens. She shrunk back slightly from his hand before she could clamp down on the impulse but when he made no move to touch her she decided to see what he wanted and stepped a little closer to him.

"Look here, Miss Sato." She said to her in a tone that made it clear that he was used to immediate obedience. She might be in mind to ignore his request (demand) out of spite, that that would get her nowhere…and she was curious. She looked at the screen after only the smallest of pauses.

The screen he wanted her to see was filled with information about the S.H.I.E.L.D. agency. She turned to look at him with narrowed eyes. She didn't want to be sold on S.H.I.E.L.D. She wanted out. Director Fury ignored her, and she turned back to the screen and reluctantly began to read. And reluctantly she was impressed. This was a rather impressive agency, with more on their minds then ripping open defenseless children. She wasn't about to believe that S.H.I.E.L.D. did not do that too though. She could believe that this information was truth and not fabrication, but not that it was the whole story.

"We are not evil, Miss Sato." Director Fury suddenly told her, and she jumped away from him, startled. She turned to look at him with narrowed eyes. He did not look apologetic in the least. "I am sure you have many questions. And I believe those bindings are superfluous. I will take them off if you agree to not attack." She stared at him steadily. If he had wanted to study her, chain her to a table and dissect her, he'd never have shown her all this essential top secret information. Or unbind her. It could be an elaborate plan to catch her off guard, but she did not think so. She nodded curtly.

He made a gesture with her hand that she took for him to mean for her to turn around, and she hunched her shoulders in displeasure at the thought of showing her back to him, but the only alternatives would be him walking behind her, or one of the other men coming up behind her and she liked those options less. She turned around with ill grace and her muscles were tense.

He released her cuffs easily and then did something at the back of the muzzle that made it loosen. She pulled her hands loose and then pulled off the contraption and threw it to the side as hard as she could. It hit the floor with a snap as it broke. She turned back to Director Fury and rubbed her jaw, glowering at the suited men who were still there for some reason as she turned.

"I apologize again, Miss Sato, for their handling of you." He seemed to be waiting for a response, but when she didn't make one he continued smoothly. "I am sure you have many questions." She took the opening immediately, although probably with a different question than he expected.

"Yeah. First off, what is this 'Miss Sato' crap?" Director Fury didn't seem too surprised, but he did raise an eyebrow before looking (just a little) apologetic.

"I suppose I really should not be surprised." He didn't really seem to be directing that to her so she did not answer. He turned back to the monitor and typed on a keyboard for a minute and gestured her back to the screen. She looked at what he had brought up. Two pictures, a man and a woman. The woman was Indian, the man a mix of some sort. But he looked Asian.

"These are Wichapi Win Sato nee Wise-Cloud, and her husband Akil Sato. Wichapi Win was full-blooded Sioux Indian, and Akil Egyptian-Japanese. They were both scientists employed by S.H.I.E.L.D." He explained while she read the information on them. Apparently woman had been a fairly high ranking scientist in the field of genetics, and had met and married Akil who was in a different field, mutagens. There was actually a lot of data on them, they had been involved with some big projects. She was, grudgingly, a bit impressed.

"Your name is Serena Raven Sato." Director Fury came right out of left field with that one and she turned to him with blank eyes, his words not registering for several seconds. Then the words did sink in and she whirled back around to look at the monitor, and back at Director Fury. Was he implying that those were her parents?

"What are you talking about? My name is Siren." She told him with absolute finality. Serena Raven Sato, really?

"Wichapi Win and Akil were some of my best scientists, and they were wonderful people. I had not even known they were expecting a child. I certainly would not have allowed Wichapi Win to stay so near radioactive devices had I known. From what we could gather after the fact -and we were quite thorough- you showed signs of mutant abilities very soon after birth. Your parents were killed, you were abducted, and the lab was blown up. Because we had not even known about you until far too late it took us many years to find you, and by that time you had rescued yourself." He explained this all quite calmly, but she could see he was waiting for a reaction of some sort. But she had no idea how to react. Now she knew about her parents, about who he said were her parents anyways. But, there were no emotions there. She'd never known them.

"So it's my….'mother's' fault that I am a mutant than. That Hydra took me? That she was killed?" When she asked him that in an almost emotionless tone he seemed actually surprised. He shouldn't had been, but he was. She almost laughed. But her heart hurt too much and she probably would have started screaming instead.

"Miss Sato…your parents were wonderful people, they would have been wonderful parents." He explained as if that changed anything. As if that brought his precious scientists back, or changed her years of torture. The look she gave him seemed to get some of that through his head and he dropped the matter.

"Yes, it would seem that the radiation you received while utero did in some part cause your mutations, but not entirely, your mother's family carried some latent abilities already."

"So when Hydra told me I was not human and did not deserve human rights they were telling the truth."

"You _are_human, Miss-"

"Stop it! Stop calling me that! My name is SIREN!"

"Miss-…Sato. Siren…is that something Hydra called you?"

"Fuck Hydra. As if I'd keep anything they gave me, even a name. And they didn't give me a name, they didn't give me anything! I was a _number_ to them! Less than worthless. Moron. And stop with this 'miss' crap. Siren is what I named myself. And you said my parents were killed right after I was born and you didn't even know my mother was pregnant with me, so how can you be so sure of my name?"

"She had been anticipating your birth highly, and had already decided your name; we found it in her personal data storage."

"Well great for her. I am Siren, not 'Serena Raven Sato'. I accept that you believe they are my parents, and I can see some similarities, so I accept that they must be my parents, and I even accept that they were nice people. That doesn't matter. I never knew them, and knowing of them now does not change a damn thing. So I'll keep my own name for the time being, and I will not respond to anything else."

"Very well. Siren."

It had been 3 years since that day, and she allowed Nick to call her Serena now. He didn't bother with 'miss' anymore, and she never called him anything but 'Nick' unless she felt the need to get his goat, or was in a situation where it would ease others for her to at least play like she was obedient and respectful. He was a good man, she'd finally decided, and she did have a great deal of respect for him. Not enough to act it though.

Over the years he had given her an extensive education, and it turned out she was incredibly smart (genetics spoke, she guessed) and she decided to follow her mother's footsteps and study genetics. He'd made sure she had a thorough education, all but stuffing it down her throat. Well, at first. But once she got started she couldn't stop. She had a voracious appetite for knowledge. She studied combatives as well to round it out, and she found and regularly broke her limits concerning her powers.

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AN/ Hope you all liked this, R&R


	3. Then and Now

AN/ Wow. So it's been awhile, but nowhere near as long as some of my other hiatuses. I hope this chapter was worth the wait. :3

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Serena. I am not making any money off of this.

Grim1989:Something like it, yes.

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She remembered how it had been when she had first agreed to stay. She had not trusted Nick, not trusted any of them. Especially the ones who tried to befriend her. She was certain that her well-being was not their priority. She had stayed in her room, in the corner, in the dark, her arms around her knees, Bad clutched to her chest. She had had many nightmares in those early days. Panic attacks almost daily for the first few weeks. But finally she realized that they had not locked her in, had not even tried to run any tests on her, didn't even suggested anything to her! Just let her be.

That had scared her at first, but after a month she had ventured out to get used to the facility and the people, and began to try and learn what they did, what she could do. She had been given clothing, a uniform like theirs. It had been tailored to herself alone, and when she outgrew it she was given more. The food was wonderful, and she had been given lessons. Not just in maths and sciences, but in deportment and history and in physical training.

And then she had tried to discover the limits of her powers….and that….had been something she would never forget.

Three and a half years earlier:

Her throat was dry and sore, her voice husky and sounded overused. Her eyes were sore and red and swollen. But Siren smiled with satisfaction. She stared down at her hands and then looked around at the broken glass around her. She frowned and looked down again. That wasn't right. Something wasn't right. She could break glass, but that wasn't all she could do, was it? Stun people? Hurt them? She'd been here for several months. And she had only just begun to try and figure out her powers. She had never wanted to before, but Nick was curious.

Nick had been so patient with her, and kept to his word. He'd not run any experiments on her, or chained her or anything. And he told her he'd let her learn anything she wanted, like the things her parents knew. And he let Natasha Romanoff take her shopping to get her new clothing, and she had her own room. She could not shake the feeling that this was all a trap, but Nick was pretty straight forward with her. He told her he wanted him to join his group, use her powers. So she knew that he was not being altruistic, he wanted something from her. But not, it seemed, her blood, or tears. Just her voluntary assistance.

So even though she did not trust him, she was still curious about her powers, especially now that she had the opportunity to discover her powers in a safe environment.

But so far she seemed to be missing the point, she was screaming and it was having effects, but she felt as though she was doing it wrong.

She had just finished yet another fruitless venture, and she was sprawled on the cold floor, exhausted, frustrated, and near teats, when Nick came over to her, and sat down beside her with merry disregard to the state of his immaculate uniform.

"Siren." He'd begun to call her that recently, given up trying to make her respond to what he claimed was her name. "This may be hard to answer, but what, exactly, did HYDRA want you to do for them? How did they use you?" He asked slowly, his voice calm. He did not look at her, but at the remains of glass on the floor. And at first the question did hurt, made her hunch in on herself and cringe away. But then she began to think. HYDRA. had had plans with her. And it hadn't been to have her scream. What had they wanted?

"They…" She stopped and stared off into the distance. Memories returned, memories she had repressed. Silent tears began to fall down her cheeks. "I think…I remember." She wrapped her arms around herself and forced herself to continue. "I sang….to the….the…them." She couldn't say 'volunteers', that wasn't right. Captives? Victims? "The…test-subjects. I made them calm. Accepting. Pliant." She cried harder now, remembering her involvement, she was truly an awful person. Evil. She _helped_ them. Helped HYDRA.

"How old were you when you did that Siren?" Nick asked, still not looking at her, voice still calm. He had not twitched so much as a muscle at her words. She looked up at him when he asked the question, a little confused.

"I was….nine or ten I think." She answered slowly.

"And you were scared, drugged, and had been raised by some very evil people. Did they hurt you if you refused?" Nick's voice was lower somehow, soothing. She relaxed ever so slightly, but tears still leaked slowly from her violet eyes.

"I….was wearing a collar…and was shocked if I did not comply." She answered with only a small waver in her voice.

"If you were frightened and drugged, how did you calm the men you sung to?" Nick asked, changing the subject abruptly. Siren blinked once in shock and answered without really having to think about it. It was never something she thought about if she could help it, it made her nervous, and usually brought about a panic attack.

"I…was told to calm them. So I did. I made myself calm, and then made them calm." She tried to explain without much success, she wasn't too sure herself how it worked. Now Nick turned to look at her, appraising her. But he still looked calm, and not judgmental.

"You calmed _yourself _first? Every time?" He asked as if it was the most commonplace subject in the world.

"Yes." She answered shortly, wondering what he was driving at. His answer was a non-committal grunt and he stood to his feet before offering her a hand. She stared at it as if it were a snake, before hesitatingly taking the gesture at face value and allowing him to pull her to her feet.

"I have an idea about your powers, I will want to try you out on some different trials now." He told her, his voice never betraying he had a revelation for her. And then his voice was suddenly firm and he grabbed her chin and forced her to look into his eye. "And never for a moment think that you have misused your powers or done some great sin. You were a child, and under torturous and unbelievable conditions." She couldn't have broken away from him if HYDRA had come bursting through the doors. She was trapped, but not afraid. "You are a good girl Siren. And you are smart. You are going to be an asset to S.H.I.E.L.D., and help us destroy HYDRA wherever they may be." Then he released her and turned to leave, not even waiting for her reaction.

Once she recovered she returned to her room, sat on her bed with her arms around her upraised knees, and just let her thoughts flow. She had known –in the back of her mind- that none here at S.H.I.E.L.D. seemed to be wary of her, or even unhappy with her presence. They had all been incredibly nice to her, especially Natasha. They had not resented her inclusion into S.H.I.E.L.D., nor did they find much fault in her lackluster work ethic. They all seemed content to let her adjust. Oh, not that there were not the few dissenters, the rare one or two who were overtly hostile, the few who were vaguely dissatisfied with her, but that was something one found in any situation. That was what made her feel better about the people who actually were nice to her, made it seem more sincere.

And now she was being told that she had done nothing wrong, that she was not steeped in sin. It was quite a lot to take in. But it gave her a good feeling. She pulled Bad over from where he lay on her pillow, hugged him to her chest and laid back with a smile. When she fell asleep the smile was still there.

Back to present:

Nick had indeed figured out what her powers were. She was an empath, a projective empath. And a powerful one at that. She could calm or rouse a crowd at will. She could cause a person to feel a specific emotion, as long as she herself could emulate such an emotion to project. It was draining. But she could effectively control a mob at full tilt if she were to exert herself. She had become quite skilled at emotional manipulation although it was not something she was happy to do. She did not like manipulating anyone, much less her teammates. Her companions. So when Nick Fury came to her, and told her that he wished for her to bring in Dr. Bruce Banner, she refused.

"I won't do it." She told him firmly without even looking up from the bow she was tying around Bad's neck. The dark purple looked lovely against his black plush-fur and matched his eyes exactly.

"Are you disobeying a direct order, Serena?" He always used her 'real' name when he was being serious. Being 'Director Fury' and not just her mentor and boss, Nick. She didn't even look up to gauge just how annoyed he was, she was used to him by now to tell from his tone, and how he referred to her. When he was severely pissed he called her 'Miss Sato'. So she was beginning to get into hot water, but he was still willing to hear her side. So she gave it to him.

"It is one thing to be forced into the use of my powers to manipulate the emotions of others by drugs and pain against my will, another for it to happen with the informed consent of my team-mates. A different matter completely to use my powers on our enemies to defend my teammates. But I will not use my powers on a man you want me to recruit." Now she turned to look up at him.

Nick had not changed a hair –not that he had any to change- since the day she had met him. She however had changed quite a bit. Now 19 she still looked younger than her age, but only about two or three years younger. Her hair had grown quite a bit and now reached past her hips when unbound. She had grown taller, although she was still so short that she hardly came to Nick's chest. When she was last measured she was 5'3". But she had filled out a bit, and had become something of a beauty although she did not acknowledge it. She was healthier emotionally, but still suffered from PTSD, and the rare panic attack. She still refused to have any medical tests done on her. And she was very, very strict about how she would use her powers.

Nick looked a little startled by her words –exhibited only by the slightest widening of his eye- but took them calmly enough, his hands behind his back, properly at 'ease'. She sat a little straighter, pulled Bad onto her lap, and waited patiently for his response.

"Dr. Bruce Banner is dangerous when he is confronted. He could hurt people." Nick told her seriously, obviously plying to her sense of duty. She didn't even blink. "Very well. I will send Agent Romanoff. But you will keep him calm?" He phrased it like a question, but she knew it was something like an order. But she never did take orders well.

"With his informed consent." She told him tartly. He may have smirked a little then, but it could have been just a trick of the light.

"Very well. You inform him when Agent Romanoff brings him in." Nick told her as he turned to walk away, probably to call Natasha. Always one to get the last word she called after him.

"I'll be waiting for the plane to arrive!"

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AN/ I hope all my readers enjoyed this chapter!


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